The present invention relates generally to computer-implemented presentations systems, and more specifically, the present invention relates to an improved method and system to enable multiple users to interact with content of a picture presentation during the course of the presentation.
Picture presentations are an important aspects of many professional and social setting. Executives make presentations to directors, managers conduct meetings with staff, salespersons make presentations to potential customers, doctors conduct meetings with nurses, lawyers make presentations to juries, and families and friends present and share pictures of important occasions in their lives.
Frequently, much effort goes into generating and delivering effective picture presentations. With specialized software, conventional personal computer systems can provide effective platforms for generating and conducting presentations. Currently available presentation program modules can turn a personal computer into a customized presentation system for generating and delivering picture presentations.
Generally described, these prior art presentation systems provide a specially designed, user-friendly, pallet of tools to assist in the generation of a presentation to be subsequently displayed to an audience. These presentation systems also allow the pictures to be sequentially presented to an audience, picture-by-picture, with color, animation, audio, and transition effects that enrich and enliven the presentation.
Conventional presentation systems do not provide an effective means for interacting with the content of the presentation during the course of the presentation. This drawback arises because these conventional presentation systems have only two modes of operation, an edit mode and a show mode. A single user often generates the presentation, and then subsequently delivers the same presentation to an audience. During the course of the presentation, the single user can interact with the content of the presentation only by invoking the edit mode which primarily allows the user to rearrange the order in which the presentation is arranged.
A significant drawback arises when using these conventional presentation systems because all participants of the presentation cannot concurrently interact with the content of the presentation. Conventional systems are designed for use by a single presenter to a passive audience, and not for a setting where all participants of the presentation interact with the presentation on an equal footing. The presentation is typically conducted in a linear setting. The presenter faces the audience, and the audience views the presentation behind the presenter. The presenter can either look at the audience or the presentation, but not at both at the same time.
Furthermore, a conventional presentation system only has a single set of controls. To allow any one other than the presenter to control the presentation can be quite disruptive and cumbersome. Also, most computer implemented presentation systems that display multiple pictures at once use the same rectangular format as used by mechanical slide-sorter. These require that the typical single user has a specific orientation to the displayed presentation. These type of systems are not amendable to situations where multiple participants are facing each other, and the displayed presentation, in a highly interactive and multi-dimensional manner.
In view of these drawbacks associated with conventional presentation systems, there is a need for an improved method and system that allows multiple users to interact with the content of a presentation during the course of the presentation.
The invention provides a system that enables multiple users to interact with a picture presentation. The system includes a display surface having a horizontal orientation, preferably circular. The display surface can be touch sensitive. A processor is configured to composite an image. The composite image includes a picture display area, an orientation area, and a plurality of control panels. There is one control panel for each of the users.
A database, coupled to the processor, stores annotated pictures. The annotated pictures are to be composited into the picture display area of the displayed image. A display device, coupled to the processor, displays the composite image on the display surface, and an input device is used to interact with the control panels, the orientation area, and the annotated pictures to enable the users to concurrently control the compositing of the sequence of images.
Each control panel includes people, calendar, location, an events icons for selecting the pictures to be composited. The control panel also includes inkpad, keyboard, work space, new, show, and a summary icons. These are displayed in black on a white background when inactive, and in full color when activated. Composited pictures in the image are first shown in gray scale, and selected pictures are shown in full color. The pictures are composited with an orientation toward a particular control panel and user that selected the pictures.